6 Months Ago

6 months ago yesterday Madi underwent open heart surgery. It literally was the worst day of my life. I can still remember the sheer fear, pain, anxiety, sadness and hope I felt as I watched the OR nurse take Madi down the hall to the operating room. I carried Madi all the way until we hit the double doors and that was where we had to say our goodbyes. I remember thinking that she has no idea what is about to hit her...and thank God for that! The wait was the longest 6 hours of my life. Unknown complications arose and all we could do was pray...pray for God to be with her surgeon as he did his work. 6 months ago Madi's heart was repaired and she was given a second chance at life. During that time I felt as though my heart was being stretched and was becoming more full of love for her...more than I thought was possible. Watching her fight for her life absolutely blew me away and gave me the strength and courage that I know I will need to continue to always stand up and fight for her.

We came away from this experience with so much more strength, love, faith, patience and humility. Madi continues to amaze us! 6 months later she is doing awesome. Sure her heart is not perfect but right now the doctors are all very pleased with the outcome. I am so thankful for the care, love and prayers we all received. The world of congenital heart defects is not one that I ever wanted to be a part of. I can only feel blessed for our postivie outcome and all that we gained through this experience.

Our 1 Year Old

So I am finally getting around to posting about Madi's first birthday party. We had a great time and miss social butterfly didn't skip a beat. She enjoyed every minute of her party and loved being the center of attention. I think we have a little princess in the making...yikes! :) Before the party started we did a traditional Korean 1st birthday celebration with family. Madi was dressed in a traditional Korean dress that Dave's dad bought for her in Korea after she was born. We took lots of pictures of her in front of food. I'm not sure of the signifcance of the food but that is the tradition. We then placed 4 objects in front of Madi (string, money, a pencil and paper) and waited to see what object she grabbed first. Each object symbolizes something. Madi first grabbed the string which means she will live a long life...after the year she has had that is awesome! She quickly then grabbed the $20 bill in front of her which means she will be rich. The best part was when she picked up the pencil (which means you will be a scholar), she looked at it and very deliberately threw it on the ground... Madi, I think you made your point!

We want to hank everyone who was there to celebrate her big day with us. I know many of you celebrated with us in spirit and we want to thank you as well. Your love and support for our family and especially Madi is such a blessing and we appreciate each and every one of you.

On her birthday Madi had an appt with the cardiologist to follow up on her leaky valves. We have GREAT news! The leak has gotten much better and the function of her heart looks great! They want to check her out in 3 months again but for now she looks fabulous...yay Madi! Madi also recently had her 1 year check up. She is a healthy, happy little girl that is catching up on the growth chart. She wighed in at 17lbs7oz, and is 28.5 inches long. That is 50th percentile for weight and 95th for height on the down syndrome growth chart. She has mastered eating finger foods, is drinking regular milk without a problem, and loves to drink water from her straw cup. We are so happy that she is a healthy, happy, growing baby...what more can you ask for. Here are some pictures from her party:

Happy Halloween

Madi had a blast on her first official Halloween. Last year she was 2 days old and spent her Halloween relaxing under the warmer in the NICU at St Joe's Hospital. This year Madi went to Athan's 2nd birthday costume party and then went "trick-or-treating" at Proctor Treats. All of the little shops in Proctor open for trick-or-treating, so we took Madi out and strolled around looking at all of the costumes. I was shocked to see how many people there were trick-or-treating in our little neighborhood...literally there were thousands. It was a lot of fun and our little ladybug was pretty cute I must say. Here are some pictures from the day: